Her Unlikely Family

“You haven’t begun to see my impatience, Josie. Ten minutes. Not one minute longer.”

She moved closer until her nose almost touched his. “I’m not some peon crawling to you, begging for a loan.”

Without moving an inch away from her challenge, he said, “Ready, set…” Then, somehow, his watch beeped. “…Go.”

As much as she would love to argue with the maddening man, she resisted and slung the door open. She jumped out and started running up the drive. Forget your pride, Josie. Think of Lisa.

Huffing and puffing, she stopped at the main building, but it was dark. A trip around the building revealed music playing up the hill at one of the visiting artists’ cottages.

She followed the sound and about collapsed in relief when she heard Lisa’s voice. Now she had to somehow send Lisa home without giving away the fact that Mike was only two hundred yards away.

A brisk walk to the porch of one of the houses found Lisa, Brian and a group of students talking over the strains of jazz.

“Hi,” Josie said.

“Josie! What are you doing here?” Lisa’s gaze darted around, no doubt looking for Mike.

“I came to tell you to get on back to the house.”

“What about my uncle?”

“We’ll talk about him when you get there.”

“Curfew isn’t until twelve.”

“I just changed it to ten-thirty.”

“But it’s that time now.”

“Then I suggest you get going.”

“But, Josie—”

“As long as you’re under my roof, I expect you to play by my rules.” Please don’t let this backfire!

Lisa looked at her new friends and shrugged. “I guess I’ll see ya later. Thanks for telling me about the gallery opening. It was awesome.”

“Hey, anytime,” a young woman said. “I hope you’ll consider taking some classes.”

“Sure.” Lisa glanced at Josie guiltily. “When I’m old enough.” She took the hand of the tall, lanky kid next to her. “Come on, Brian.”

“Brian, I expect you to take her directly home,” Josie said.

“Yes, ma’am.”

As dignified as she could, Josie traipsed down the hill, then started into a full run as soon as she was out of sight. She met Mike’s headlights halfway up the drive and stepped in the middle of the road, putting up her hand to tell him to halt.

Once he stopped, she hurried to the passenger’s side and climbed in. “She’s here. Back up and go out the way we came in before she sees you, or she’s liable to tell Brian to head to the state line.”

Michael looked ahead up the road and thought for a moment about staying put, blocking the drive.

“If we’re lucky, they’ll take another minute or two to get to Brian’s truck.” Josie breathed heavily, her hair a wild curly mess falling out of confinement.

“How do I know you really saw her at all?”

She growled her irritation. “If my running all the way up there was for nothing, then I may just…” She growled again.

Josie might have a point. He didn’t want to risk scaring Lisa away. He’d have to believe the crazy woman beside him.

He backed the car up, then squealed out of the parking lot.

“Hey. Watch it,” she said. “You might get your Beemer dusty or something.”

He let off the gas. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually drive so carelessly.”

“I suspected as much.”

“It’s just so frustrating to get this close and not see her.”

“She’ll meet you tomorrow. I won’t take no for an answer.”

Josie didn’t seem to be jesting. “You’ll do that for me?”

“I’ll do it for Lisa. Whether she realizes it or not, she needs you.”

“Exactly. She needs my influence to get her reinstated in school where she has stability, where she has female role models.”

“I said she needs you—your love—not the substitute you’re trying to provide.”

Love. He almost laughed out loud. Hadn’t Gloria, as she’d returned his great grandmother’s engagement ring, told him he wasn’t even capable of loving? And what about his own sister? Patricia had certainly made her opinion of his love perfectly clear on the night she’d died.

Love? A stab of guilt knocked him deeper into his seat. What could he possibly offer Lisa besides a prestigious private school, a fine college education and a position at the bank?

“I’ll take you home,” he said. “I’m holding you to your word about tomorrow.”

“My car’s at the diner.”

“You know, I’m struggling with leaving this all in your hands. Do you promise you won’t help her escape tonight?”

“Of course I won’t. Trust me.”

In his world, trust was only secured once there was a solid, no-loopholes contract signed. Somehow, he didn’t see her signing anything at the moment. He arched one brow at her, but she merely smiled. Which didn’t reassure him at all.

“Mike, you never mentioned Lisa’s father. Why isn’t he the guardian?”

“Lisa’s father has never been in the picture. He and my sister never married.”

“Then it must have been really hard for Lisa when her mother died.”